Capital Facts

Illinois may see a third candidate for governor

Published by admin on Sun, 04/22/2018 - 4:26pm

 

Several months ago, House Speaker Michael Madigan’s chief of staff Tim Mapes made copies of candidate nominating petitions for what appeared to be every single candidate in the state, regardless of party or office sought.  Madigan’s spokesperson was mum when asked why.

Budget is final test of Rauner’s first term

Published by admin on Mon, 04/16/2018 - 3:02pm

    I’ve read, watched and heard a whole lot of commentary about the upcoming state budget negotiations during the past few weeks and it pretty much all ignores recent history and focuses instead on one-sided claims of pending controversy.
    For instance, this is from an April 7 State Journal-Register editorial: “Some Republicans have voiced in recent weeks the thought that Democrats, who control the House and Senate, might not want to have a state budget again, in hopes it will impede GOP Gov. Bruce Rauner’s re-election chances in November.”

It’s not a winning message if you don’t use it

Published by admin on Tue, 04/10/2018 - 11:50am

    J.B. Pritzker appears to have chosen a solid message for the fall campaign. The overall theme at the successful Democratic gubernatorial candidate’s press conference the day after he won the primary race was “Bruce Rauner is a failed governor.” The message is also the primary subject of his online advertising push against Rauner.

Election shows being a Madigan ally a plus

Published by admin on Sun, 03/25/2018 - 2:35pm

 

The oddest political couple in all of Illinois did pretty well in last Tuesday’s Democratic primary. 

The politics behind Rauner’s veto and the future of gun bills

Published by admin on Mon, 03/19/2018 - 11:35am

    Gov. Bruce Rauner’s veto of a gun dealer licensing bill last week took a lot of folks by surprise. It probably shouldn’t have.
    We'll get to the politics in a second, but, as with HB40, the governor was acting on his beliefs. Rauner is a strong abortion rights supporter, so he signed HB40 last year to provide public funding for abortions and protect women’s right to choose if Roe v. Wade is reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court.

In remap fight, you’ve got to know when to go ‘all in’

Published by admin on Mon, 03/12/2018 - 4:14pm

    House Speaker Michael Madigan cares most about three House votes: The votes every two years for both the next Speaker and the House rules; and the vote every 10 years on the new state legislative district maps.

Just tapping the brakes in the governor’s race

Published by admin on Mon, 03/05/2018 - 10:38am

    Sources in both parties said last week that their tracking polls were showing a dip in support for Sen. Daniel Biss and a trending increase for Chris Kennedy in the Democratic primary race for governor.
     That's the most likely reason why billionaire JB Pritzker's campaign began airing negative ads against Kennedy last week.  Pritzker has been playing a fascinating game of “whack-a-mole” with his two opponents while Gov. Bruce Rauner has tried to make Pritzker’s task difficult.

Candidates sometimes suffer a Madigan tax

Published by admin on Sun, 02/25/2018 - 3:16pm

 

Every election cycle, House Democratic candidates have to pay what can be thought of as a "Madigan Tax." 

State budget does opposite of what Rauner says

Published by admin on Tue, 02/20/2018 - 2:49pm

    Last year’s state budget caused some real consternation among local government leaders because the General Assembly cut their funding.
    The budget slashed their share of the state income tax by 10 percent for one year and skimmed two percent off the top of several local sales taxes.
    Gov. Bruce Rauner vetoed that budget. His veto was overridden, but the governor’s new budget recycles those same two ideas and the overall concept of off-loading state costs onto local taxpayers.

Kennedy ins’t ready for prime time

Published by admin on Mon, 01/29/2018 - 10:13am

    For a while now, the book on Chris Kennedy has been that he may not be cut out for a career in politics, despite his famous last name and pedigree as the son of Bobby Kennedy and nephew of John F. Kennedy.
     That thinking goes all the way back to Kennedy’s disastrous performance after a breakfast speech to Illinois delegates during the 2016 Democratic National Convention.  Kennedy had a serious freak-out experience in front of TV cameras as reporters jumped on an elevator with him to ask questions.